Hello Kitty & Cuppuccino!

Shoved in a back alley of Seoul’s hip Hongdae neighborhood, sandwiched somewhere between “Luxury Ho” Bar and the “F**kFake” Designer Boutique for Men (asterisks not included in actual name), Hello Kitty lives on. Or her cappuccinos do, at least.

That’s right, even though Hong Kong’s legendary Hello Kitty Cafe lost the fight against gentrification, the Koreans are keeping this elegant chat in business. Looking for cushions of cuteness? Twee-flavored coffee? Waffles, splashed and sprayed and oh-so-loved? Yep, it’s all here, slapped between pink walls, and Kitty memorabilia, and surveyed and snapped at by crowds of kawaii Korean girls, giggling and shooting and posing with peace fingers splayed.

The waffles were all sold out, as were the hot dogs (scandalously doused in gunk) and the cheese onion bread (under a thick layer of ectoslime goo), but they still had lattes left — black bean-flavored, and green tea-flavored, and sweet potato-flavored. (And oh, how sweet the sweet potatoes were — like Thanksgiving in a cup.) Each latte boasted a powdered kitty shaken out on top, to be enjoyed from the comfort of deep kitty-shaped chairs.

The only irony is this was two doors down from the Cats Living cafe, where the kitties were… well… real.